{"id":25430,"date":"2024-03-31T21:37:28","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T01:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/japans-service-sector-sentiment-rises-to-highest-in-over-three-decades\/31\/03\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-03-31T21:37:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T01:37:28","slug":"japans-service-sector-sentiment-rises-to-highest-in-over-three-decades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/japans-service-sector-sentiment-rises-to-highest-in-over-three-decades\/31\/03\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan&#8217;s service sector sentiment rises to highest in over three decades"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>By Leika Kihara<\/p>\n<p>TOKYO (Reuters) -Business sentiment among big Japanese non-manufacturers improved to a more than three-decade high in the first quarter, a closely watched central bank survey showed, offering policymakers hope that domestic demand will underpin a fragile economic recovery.<\/p>\n<p>But big manufacturers&#8217; sentiment soured for the first time in four quarters due in part to auto production disruptions, according to the tankan survey released on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The outcome is among factors the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will scrutinise in its next meeting on April 25-26, when it issues fresh quarterly growth and inflation forecasts.<\/p>\n<p>The April projections will draw market attention for any clues on how soon the BOJ could raise interest rates again, after having exited its massive stimulus programme last month.<\/p>\n<p>The headline sentiment index for big manufacturers stood at +11 in March from +13 in December, the tankan survey showed, compared with a median market forecast for a +10 reading.<\/p>\n<p>The index gauging big non-manufacturers&#8217; sentiment improved to +34 in March from +32 three months ago, the survey showed, slightly exceeding a market forecast of a reading of +33.<\/p>\n<p>It was the highest reading since August 1991, when Japan&#8217;s economy was booming from an asset-inflated bubble, and driven by a surge in inbound tourism and a boost to corporate profits from price hikes, a BOJ official told a briefing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The BOJ probably remains confident about service sector sentiment,&#8221; said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think the BOJ could raise interest rates one more time this year if wage hikes accelerate.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Big firms expect to increase capital expenditure by 4.0% in the fiscal year starting in April, against median forecasts of a 9.2% rise, the survey showed.<\/p>\n<p>Both big manufacturers and non-manufacturers expect conditions to worsen three months ahead, the survey showed.<\/p>\n<p>Some companies worried about global economic uncertainty and prospects of rising labour costs due to a tight job market, the BOJ official said.<\/p>\n<p><button class=\"link caas-button collapse-button\" data-ylk=\"elm:readmore;slk:Story continues\">Story continues<\/button><\/p>\n<p>Japan&#8217;s economy expanded an annualised 0.4% in the final quarter of last year, narrowly averting a technical recession as robust capital expenditure offset weaknesses in consumption.<\/p>\n<p>Analysts expect the economy to have barely grown in the first quarter as rising living costs hurt consumption, and output disruptions at some auto factories weighed on industrial production.<\/p>\n<p>Business sentiment and corporate spending appetite are key to whether Japan&#8217;s economy can sustain a moderate recovery and allow the central bank to raise interest rates again.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the BOJ&#8217;s decision to end negative rates last month, expectations that any further rate hikes by the BOJ will be slow in forthcoming have pressured the yen and briefly pushed it to a 34-year low against the dollar.<\/p>\n<p>(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/japans-sector-sentiment-hits-more-002143158.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) -Business sentiment among big Japanese non-manufacturers improved to a more than three-decade high in the first quarter,<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/japans-service-sector-sentiment-rises-to-highest-in-over-three-decades\/31\/03\/2024\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}